GOOD DAY, READERS.
Viator rolled out an updated global supplier agreement for tour operators this month that gives channel partners — including Booking.com, Expedia, and Airbnb — the right to set the retail rate of experiences, reports Executive Editor Dennis Schaal. Viator’s policies on pricing have evolved over time, and they now give less control to the tour operator.
The contract changes came just before Tripadvisor’s announcement that it reached a deal with Airbnb to enable it to access select experiences content beginning later this year. The updates could benefit partners such as Airbnb by establishing detailed policies that remove the need for the individual vetting of thousands of listings.
Skift Commerce Summit
When a platform rewrites who sets the retail rate, the fight isn't about pricing. It's about who owns the customer.
That question runs through the Skift Commerce Summit on November 11 in NYC, where airline distribution VPs, hotel CROs, OTA strategy heads, and the investors funding the disruption work through who controls the commerce stack as AI enters the booking path.
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Viator’s Updated Operator Agreement Formalizes a Power Shift in Experiences Pricing: Scoop
by Dennis Schaal
Is Airbnb's partnership with Tripadvisor merely an expansion of Airbnb's partnership with Tripadvisor's res-tech unit Bokun? So far some Airbnb employees aren't seeing signs of a broad, new Viator inventory partnership in the works.
ACCOR GROUP + SKIFT
The Asian hotel market has long been shaped by local ownership, with independent operators playing a dominant role across high-demand destinations. That dynamic continues to influence how supply enters the market and how hotels compete.
SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK
Google scoops up Spirit Airlines' pricing and booking data in bankruptcy for a fraction of its value, the UK launches a crackdown on hidden travel fees with fines up to 10% of global revenue, and Delta's pilot scheduling talks break down with the busy fall travel season right around the corner.
On this Skift Daily Briefing, Sarah Dandashy breaks down why Google's Spirit data purchase is a bargain with enormous AI implications, what the UK's drip pricing crackdown means for travelers, and why the U.S. still hasn't figured this out, and why Delta's reliability problems aren't going away before fall.
SKIFT TRAVEL 200
How are public travel companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to understand global market movements. Paid subscribers get full access here.
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